One Thin Thread
by See Jane Write
Summary: Olivia's injures were much more severe in Fault. EO. Definitely contains Fault spoilers.
1. Chapter 1

One Thin Thread

Summary: Olivia's injures were much more severe in "Fault". EO. Definitely contains "Fault" spoilers.

Disclaimer: I think overly obsessed fans like myself should share in the right to Dick Wolf's characters. Sadly, we do not, so…

Author's Note: I apologize if the first chapter's short, but I wanted to get it up before I left for Myrtle Beach (at an insanely early hour in the morning tomorrow...). Ten plus hours on a bus. I'll have an update as soon as I get back.

* * *

Olivia Benson did not see him coming. She was not expecting it to happen. She should have anticipated that Gitano would do something to her. She knew of his obsession with blood. She saw the knife in his hands. She had no time to react.

Before she knew what hit her, Olivia was on the ground. Blood gushed out from a wound on the left side of her neck. Her vision was blurred. Within seconds, she was unconscious. She never knew what hit her.

Elliot Stabler saw the attack. He was not focused on anything else. There were only people between him and Olivia. Without thinking, he started pushing his way through the crowd. "Olivia!" he yelled as he continued shoving his way towards her. There was a crowd of people surrounding her, but they were just staring. They were not helping. Elliot was furious with them, and he did not care that he was being rude to them. "Olivia, no," he whispered as he knelt down next to her body. He picked her up and supported her head in his lap. He quickly pulled the corner of his shirt up and held it firmly over her neck.

"Olivia, you have to hang on," he whispered as he applied more pressure to her wound. He overheard one of the people in the crowd calling 911.

This should not be happening. Not to Olivia. She did not need his rescuing. She did not need anyone coming to rescue her. He had always viewed her as a strong and independent person, but as he held her body, he realized that she was not. She was vulnerable now. She was losing blood rapidly, and his shirt was doing little to stop it.

He swallowed hard as tears dwelled in his eyes. Her blood was rolling onto her shirt and his pants. There was so much of it. Olivia was dying. The paramedics had to hurry.

The world around him was quiet. His energy was focused solely on Olivia. Her pulse was fading. "Liv, no," he begged her. "Please, don't do this to me. I need you."

Fin had walked down back to where Elliot and Olivia were. He saw the crowd standing and watching. He knew that Ryan was already dead. Gitano had taken the little girl with him. He did not know what all the fuss was about. He absent-mindedly held up his badge as he walked through the crowd. He gasped as he saw Olivia and Elliot. He quickly rushed over towards one of the kiosks and grabbed a T-shirt from it. He hurried back to the two detectives and handed the shirt to Elliot.

Elliot thanked him as he took the shirt and wrapped it around Olivia's neck like a tourniquet. He heard the ambulance sirens approaching. Within seconds, he heard the patter from the paramedics' feet as they rushed towards the crowd. The crowd parted and gave the paramedics room to transport Olivia to a stretcher. They quickly rushed out of there. Orders were already being yelled. Elliot only stood there in shock.

Fin turned to Elliot. "Go," he whispered. "I'll take care of this."

Elliot nodded and thanked Fin again. He rushed to follow the paramedics. He crawled into the ambulance and took Olivia's hand. "You're in good hands, Liv. You can fight this. Please."

The first paramedic glanced tragically back at the second. "Where are we going?" she whispered as she examined Olivia's wound. The bleeding had slowed down dramatically from when she was initially stabbed, but there was still bleeding.

The second exhaled. "I don't honestly think it will matter."


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay. My internet was messed up.

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Chapter Two 

Starting when the ambulance pulled into the ambulance bay at Mercy General Hospital, Elliot felt like he was in a horrible episode of _ER._ The two paramedics quickly but carefully transferred Olivia into the waiting hands of two doctors. They handed a chart to one of the nurses. Olivia was then rushed into the closest trauma room. Other doctors swarmed into the room. One of them immediately started giving Olivia a transfusion. After Olivia coughed up blood (for the third time since she was injured), a doctor and a nurse began suctioning her blood away from her neck in order to secure an airway.

Elliot stood in the entrance to the trauma room, paralyzed with fear. How could this be happening? He wanted desperately to go be with her. He wanted to hold her hand, kiss her forehead, and tell her that everything would be alright.

He couldn't. First off, he did not know for certain that everything would be fine. How could he know that? He was a detective, not a doctor. The only things he knew about Olivia's condition was that she was unconscious and she had lost a lot of blood. He counted the number of medical personnel surrounding Olivia. He was unsure of which people were doctors verses nurses, but there were eight in total. This was too serious for him. For the first time in his years as a police officer, he had a personal hatred for a perp. He wanted- he needed to see Gitano go down. Casey better show no mercy to him.

"Hang in there, Olivia," he whispered.

He was not even aware that he was crying. He was not making any noise, but the tears were there. He feared that Olivia would not make it out of this trauma room. Everything was happening too quickly.

Another doctor entered the room. His scrubs were a different color than those of the doctors and nurses already inside. Elliot swallowed. This was a surgeon. One of the nurses approached Elliot.

"What's going on?" Elliot demanded. Olivia was being transported out of the trauma room.

The nurse eyed Elliot curiously. "Who are you, exactly?" she asked.

"Her partner," Elliot spat angrily. His eyes were focused on Olivia. She was barely in sight. The gurney had wheeled around the corner. All he could see was the last of the doctors. He frowned as he turned back to the nurse. "Now answer my question. What's going on?" He shook his head. That would only get him a medical answer. He could not decode that. "What are her chances?"

The nurse sighed. "She's going up to surgery right now. As soon as she's on the surgical floor, a team of highly trained surgeons will be there waiting for her." She attempted to leave and head back into the trauma room to prepare it for the next patient.

Elliot frowned. "No, you didn't answer my other question. What are her chances?"

"It's hard to tell right now," the nurse said. "If she survives the surgery, she'll be fine," she admitted. "However, with her blood loss and going to surgery, it's hard to predict if she'll make it out of surgery." She noticed the tears on Elliot's face. "I'm sorry," she said as she gently extended her hand to his arm. "I know this is hard to take in. Is there anyone I can call?"

Elliot shook his head. "She doesn't have any family. I'm all she has." He exhaled as he wiped his eyes. "Can you take me to her?"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Elliot hated waiting. He always had. He was not supposed to wait around all day. He was supposed to be out on the streets hunting down perps. Hunting down Gitano. He could not. He could not leave Olivia.

Cragen had realized how Elliot felt. He ordered him to stay at the hospital with Olivia. He knew that Elliot would not be able to concentrate until he knew what would be happening with Olivia. He wished Olivia well and really hoped that she would pull through. She was one of his best detectives. He did not know what the unit would do without her. She was important to everyone, Elliot especially. She had to make it.

Elliot saw the surgeons pulling away. He looked down at his watch. They had been in there for at least three hours. He did not know if their pulling away was a good thing or not. He had to be certain. One of the nurses was coming towards him.

"What's it?" he asked. He braced himself for the worst.

"She's fine," the nurse said. "I mean, she will be. The knife scraped against her vocal cords, so it's going to be hard for her to talk for the next couple days. Try to discourage her from talking as much as you can."

Elliot no longer focused on her voice. Olivia was being wheeled out of surgery. Her eyelids were still closed. She was hooked up to an IV machine. She had a thin breathing tube resting in her nose to give her pure oxygen. Supposedly it would help her. The sight of it all just scared Elliot. Olivia was not supposed to be weak. He hated it. He followed the doctors back to her room.

"You did great, Liv," he whispered to her. The doctors settled her down in a private recovery room. They plugged the IV into the wall. They switched her breathing tube from the portable to one that was also connected to the wall. Elliot sat down at a chair right by her side. "I love you," he whispered.

Olivia did not hear him. The doctors said she could be out for the rest of the night. Elliot did not care. He would stay with her for as long as it took. He did love her.

He did not know if he should tell her. On the one hand, he thought she felt the same. He hoped she felt the same way. But what could that do to their partnership? He went back to her. Looking back, he had a good reason to. If he was not there, Olivia could have died.

Still. He chose Olivia over the job. Ryan died as a result of it. If he told Olivia he loved her, would he be able to work with her without getting emotions mixed into it? Would their partnership that was infamous to the Bronx and Brooklyn SVU be able to survive once they started dating? If they dated and had a fight, would that also be the end of their being work partners?

But it was Olivia. She was everything he had wanted since she had started working in SVU. He always wanted to take the leap of faith and hope that it would work out between them. Since he was divorced from Kathy, he could do it. It would make him the happiest man on the planet.

What would Cragen say? Would he split them up if he found out that they were dating?

He saw Olivia starting to stir. At first, she was just moving her arm closer towards her. Then she rolled over. He grabbed her other hand. As her eyes opened, he tightened his grip on her. He had to tell her. He would not be able to forgive himself if he did not.

"Hey, Liv," he whispered as he saw her look at him. "Listen, don't try to talk," he said gently. "It's only going to hurt. I don't want to see you in more pain." He moved over and pulled her into a comforting hug. "It's ok now, Liv," he whispered soothingly. "It's all ok now."

He kissed her hand lightly. First, he would tell her what had happened back with Gitano. Then he would tell her that he loved her.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

"And now you're waking up," Elliot finished. He had finished telling Olivia what had happened. She still had not spoken a word. He knew that she shouldn't, but it was a little eerie. Olivia had something to say about all their cases.

Olivia looked up at him. Elliot could see the concern in her eyes. The cases involving children always affected her. "We got the girl now, Liv," he assured her. "She's going to be fine."

A small smile fell onto Olivia's face. Elliot breathed a sigh of relief as he just looked at her. He needed her. She was the only thing keeping him going right now. She had to know. He looked into her eyes. "Liv, there's something I have to make clear," he started. "You scared the shit out of me earlier. Ever since the divorce, life's been really hard. You are the one good thing in my life. I value and cherish that. The doctors weren't predicting that you would survive," he said. "It was the scariest moment of my life."

Olivia still did not say anything. She eyed Elliot curiously, wondering if he had anything else to add. He sounded as though he was not yet through.

"Liv, I'm in love with you. Powerfully, passionately, even painfully," he continued. "I get excited when I'm about to see you. No matter what happens in the day, I know it will be ok because you're still here." He sighed. "I just had to tell you."

Olivia looked at Elliot. She opened her mouth slowly. The words did not form right away. Elliot could tell she was trying. He waited.

"I know," Olivia rasped. It hurt. Just speaking now was the most painful thing she had ever done in her life. "I've always known," she continued. "And I love you, too."

Elliot moved onto the bed and pulled her in closer. "Don't say anything else, Liv," he said gently as he kissed her forehead. "I can see the pain you're in. I don't want to."

Olivia moved her hand down until it joined with Elliot's. Their fingers intertwined and for a moment Elliot could not tell whose were whose. Olivia crawled up to him and rested her head on his chest. It felt natural. Everything about their relationship was just right.


End file.
